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Modeling and Analysis of Cyclone Separation Efficiency Based on Spacecraft Heat Pump System

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Abstract

The heat pump can effectively achieve high power and extremely high-temperature heat dissipation of manned spacecraft. The cyclone oil–gas separator is the core component of the heat pump system to separate lubricating oil and prevent it from entering the heat exchanger. In this paper, a one-dimensional separation efficiency calculation model is built based on the geometry of the cyclone oil–gas separator, which can implement the fast calculation of the separation efficiency. At the same time, the structural parameters of the separator, the operating parameters, and the physical properties of the oil–gas mixture entering into the separator have been analyzed to obtain the influence rules on the separation efficiency, which can guide the design of the separator and the system operating conditions of the compressor.

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Availability of Data and Material

The datasets generated during the current study are publicly available.

Abbreviations

\(a_{mr}\) :

Acceleration along the radius direction

\(C_{D}\) :

Drag force coefficient

\(d\) :

Diameter of oil droplet

\(d_{c}\) :

Critical diameter of oil droplet

\(F_{r}\) :

Froude number

\(F_{1}\) :

Centrifugal force

\(F_{2}\) :

Centrifugal buoyancy

\(F_{3}\) :

Drag force

\(g\) :

Gravity acceleration

\(h\) :

Depth of vent pipe insertion

\(H\) :

Height of cyclone separator

\(R\) :

Outer radius of the cyclone separator

\({\text{Re}}_{r}\) :

Relative Reynolds number

\(r\) :

Radius of rotation motion for the oil droplet

\(r_{d}\) :

Radius of the separator bottom outlet

\(r_{in}\) :

Radius of the separator inlet

\(r_{0}\) :

Radius of the vent pipe

\(r_{so}\) :

Radius of the stable orbit

\(t\) :

Time

\(u\) :

Relative velocity

\(v\) :

Characteristic velocity

\(v_{in}\) :

Inlet velocity of the gas-oil mixture

\(v_{mr}\) :

Radial velocity of the oil droplet.

\(v_{r}\) :

Radial velocity of refrigerant vapor

\(v_{t}\) :

Tangential velocity

\(\rho\) :

Density of the refrigerant vapor

\(\rho_{m}\) :

Density of the oil droplet

\(\mu\) :

Dynamic viscosity of refrigerant vapor

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Dr. Zitian Niu is the first author, and he did most of the research and wrote this paper. Pro. Jianyin Miao and Dr. Zhendong Fu guided the research and gave many constructive and valuable comments. It is also important to note that Dr. Zhendong Fu provided the idea for the study. Dr. Qi Yang, Dr. Le Yang, and Dr. Qi Wu helped to build the model and the force analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhendong Fu.

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Niu, Z., Fu, Z., Yang, Q. et al. Modeling and Analysis of Cyclone Separation Efficiency Based on Spacecraft Heat Pump System. Microgravity Sci. Technol. 35, 11 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12217-023-10034-3

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